Khamzat Chimaev's formidable grappling is a double edged sword, says Roman Dolidze: "I don't think he can finish everybody"

Khamzat Chimaev has a demonstrably effective style that has yielded him many early finishes, but a surging contender at middleweight wonders how Chimaev's approach will work against the reigning titleholder in this weight category. This conversation took place during a recent chat with Roman Dolidze, who is currently the No. 11-ranked contender at middleweight in the UFC.

During a recent interview with Bloody Elbow, Dolidze discussed several subjects leading into his looming UFC Vegas 104 headliner against former middleweight title challenger and current No. 8-ranked Marvin Vettori. When asked about how he sees a possible fight playing out between middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis and No. 3-ranked Chimaev for the belt, Dolidze said:

"Khamzat [Chimaev] is a fighter who can take down anybody. But I don't think he can finish everybody on the ground and when he can't finish then he get in trouble because he get gassed out. But still, maybe he can win in early rounds but after, probably he will have problem. But he still have this chance because he's a great fighter."

Check out Roman Dolidze's thoughts on Khamzat Chimaev below (13:23):

---

Khamzat Chimaev questioned if he can enter the deep waters from UFC analyst

Khamzat Chimaev seems as if he is the likely next contender for Dricus du Plessis' belt, and many are already offering up breakdowns for this contest that is simply rumoured at this point.

Former UFC veteran and acclaimed UFC analyst Din Thomas recently got into a discussion regarding how a hypothetical fight between du Plessis and Chimaev would play out. Thomas broke this down on The Ariel Helwani Show, saying:

"You can't fight championship level fights for five rounds at the pace where he's at his best. If he fights like that at his best, I think Dricus is so durable and he's so smart that he'll be able to withstand that. Now they're swimming in deep water and Khamzat can't swim that deep."

Du Plessis most recently fought at UFC 312, besting Sean Strickland for the second time on points and in a more concrete fashion than their first meeting.

As for the native of Russia, he fought last October in what many saw as his most emphatic performance to date. Chimaev defeated former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker by way of a first-round submission at UFC 308, with many thinking he earned a title shot on the heels of a victory of that magnitude.